THE PAPER
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Directed by Ron Howard Written by David Keopp & Stephen Keopp Starring Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, and Randy Quaid MPAA Rating "R" (presumably because of f-f-f-f-foul language) Running Time Approx. 114 minutes
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"You're not a columnist. You're a reporter who writes long."
- Keaton to Quaid
Ron Howard makes good, old-fashioned Hollywood movies with good, old-fashioned Hollywood casts. In PARENTHOOD, Opie snagged Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Dianne Wiest, and Mary Steenburgen. In BACKDRAFT, he "fired" Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, and Bobby DeNiro. Howard's newest, THE PAPER, is an immensely enjoyable big-city newpaper nod with a by-line that reads Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, and Randy Quaid.
So what if the notion of a newspaper film is nothing more than a tired truckstop on the information highway? In New York City--where the story is set--newspaper newsrooms, plural, still exist and still reach a readership that television hasn't turned completely illiterate. This PAPER is the fictional "New York Sun," a tabloid loosely modeled on the "New York Post."
First and foremost, THE PAPER reminds us why we like Michael Keaton. As the editor of the City Desk, who's worried about everything from a job interview to a very-pregnant wife (Tomei), Keaton crackles with an energy that we haven't seen in years. MY LIFE was no life and the real Mr. Mom appeared only briefly in both MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING and BATMAN RETURNS.
THE PAPER brings Keaton back into the foreground with a role he can sink his sharp teeth into. His character is super-strung and lives on Coke product placements and never takes a break to eat or sleep or have a lengthy conversation with his wife. He stays wired as only Keaton can, which is one-step below W.F.O. Except for one scene on a phone call to Spalding Gray-- who plays an edtior at a rival 'paper-- when Keaton get nuts and transforms into Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. And that's why we love him.
Compared to Keaton, the *rest* of the cast is moving in slow-motion.
Randy Quaid is a riot as a gun-toting columnist who's waging a personal war against the City's parking commissioner. Even in a mock-serious bar fight, Quaid drops one-liners like the seasoned pro that he is. Marisa Tomei seems to have fewer scenes than Quaid, but she has a good time getting ticked at her husband and playing roving reporter and looking like all other movie wives who are at least ten-years younger than their husbands.
Glenn Close is a delight as the bitchy Managing Editor who is perpetually feuding with Keaton up to the point of exchanging blows without the benefit of rubber costumes. Her role improves with the running time, though, and Close closes the film with a classic line.
Oddly, Robert Duvall is wasted as the weary-with-prostrate-cancer Editor-in-Chief. We've heard his voice-of-experience rap before and with an estranged-daughter subplot, his character exists solely to hammer home the central idea of "do not squander time, that is the stuff life is made of."
The dialogue crackles from start to finish. Pick your scene and pick your favorite line. Keaton to Quaid: "When did you get so paranoid?" Quaid to Keaton: "When they started plotting against me." The words are backed by impressive images--a nice synthesis of photography and production design. Which translates into a lot of conversations with gorgeous skylines or gargantuan printing presses in the background.
THE PAPER smudges in a few spots. Howard employs a handy-cam too many times and, obviously, didn't watch either HUSBANDS AND WIVES or MANHATTEN MURDER MYSTERY to see just how annoying *that* technique can be. Unless you're filming in Poland, Ron, keep your stuff steady. The story is also rather pat in places and this to be expected because in a Ron Howard film *everything* gets wrapped in a comfortable and logical fashion.
Still, a little more grit would've been welcome.
Finally, THE PAPER is a great sum of great parts. Smaller, but no less significant, bits include a hilarious bar fight with Jason Alexander wearing a fake moustache and waving a gun while overacting; a wall of clocks displaying separate times for each borough; and Tomei touch-typing baby-shower thank-you notes.
BOTTOM LINE: THE PAPER is a quintessential Ron Howard film with a big
cast and a big budget and a big story that even teaches
lesson while favoring funny newspaper films like THE
FRONT PAGE. THE PAPER is also the best Michael Keaton
movie in a number of years.
Grade: B+
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